The present invention concerns stirrups for riding saddles and more particularly safety accessories for stirrups. There have heretofore been described safety stirrups having balls or rollers mounted to the top and side of the stirrup opening. The rollers serve to allow a rider's boot to be released when the rider is thrown rather than being trapped by friction which sometimes occurs by twisting of the rider's boot in the stirrup, resulting in a thrown rider being dragged by the horse.
Such a design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 847,896 issued on Mar. 19, 1907, in which balls or rollers are rotatably mounted on the metal frame forming the stirrup at the sides and the top of the stirrup opening which serve to release the rider's boot by reducing friction.
U.S. Pat. No. 250,466 issued on Dec. 6, 1881, describes a similar design, in which the rollers are mounted on a cross pin at the top of the stirrup opening.
Such designs, while functionally able to achieve the safety function sought, produces a stirrup of unusual appearance, incompatible with the American leather wrapped stirrup style.
Given the recreational and show nature of most present day riding, the odd appearance is a substantial drawback, inhibiting the use of such specially configured stirrups.
As noted, the American style stirrup is comprised of leather covered frames matching the riding saddle and other harness components. Such safety stirrup design cannot be implemented with this style stirrup.
It would be advantageous if such safety stirrup design could be implemented without substantially compromising the appearance of American style leather wrapped stirrups.
Another disadvantage of the safety stirrups heretofore conceived is that the normal frictional contact between the boot and the stirrup is changed by the presence of the rollers or balls surrounding the stirrup opening into which the toe of the rider's boot is inserted.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety stirrup of the type preventing frictional locking of a rider's boot when the rider is ornamental and also thrown which is compatible with American style stirrups.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety stirrup in which the normal contact between the rider's boot and the stirrup inside surface is normally maintained despite the presence of the roller safety release feature.